


Butterfly Is The Worst Stroke

by myrmeraki



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Kissing, M/M, Swimming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-16 03:14:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29943639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myrmeraki/pseuds/myrmeraki
Summary: A snapshot of swimmer Sam and his increasingly tired boyfriend. Yeah I headcanon butterfly to be Sam's favorite stroke, yeah it's also *the* worst stroke, this does not conflict.
Relationships: Josh Lyman/Sam Seaborn
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	Butterfly Is The Worst Stroke

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dogsbreath](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dogsbreath/gifts).



> this is a happy birthday fic for @dogsbreath!!! love you so and hope you enjoy, you got me thinking about underwater kisses for about a month now so I thought it would be only fair to cave. <3

"That's time!" Josh slapped the ceramic tile and sent a splash of water over his knees. 

Sam crossed one arm over the pool grate and shucked off his goggles with the other. 

"How'd I do?" Sam said in between breaths and peeling off his swim cap. 

Josh smiled at the digital stopwatch, bright orange, and taken off of Sam's wrist before he cannon-balled into the pool an hour ago. Regional competitions in their school's conference were next Saturday, and for the last three weeks, Sam Seaborn had been a man possessed. A wonderfully dedicated athlete, to be fair, but in Josh's expert opinion he was lacking in the whole boyfriend area. They decided to push in one-on-one time where they could, most of their 'dates' of late consisting of Josh timing Sam as he practiced after-hours or Sam shooting Josh points of information as he ran through debate prep.

This meant an abundance of late nights at school, drive-through dinners, and the ostensible "study sleepover" that actually turned into studying-sans quotation marks- and falling asleep before midnight. 

"Fifty-five point two-three." 

Sam looked up, frowned, and then dropped his head back down. 

"Do _not_ do this. I absolutely refuse to let you do this." 

"Do what?" Sam said. He kicked off the wall and started floating on his back, currents of hair still plastered to his forehead. Josh rolled his eyes and waved the watch at him, the light-grey numbers still flashing every odd second. 

"Hello? New personal best?"

"It's just practice." 

"You won gold last time you did this." 

"I didn't have to qualify for Sectionals last time I did this," Sam mused, now upright and treading water. 

_"Sam!"_ Josh protested, cringing at how his voice echoed off the walls of the completely-empty pool. What a way to spend his Friday afternoon. 

"Hundred-fly. That's my favorite event."

"Yeah, you're insane for that, but it's also your _best._ "

"Maybe." 

"Sam." 

"What?" Sam rubbed his eye with the palm of his hand, right under the semi-permanent bags and the newly formed goggle-imprints that made him look like a raccoon. 

"You do this," Josh said, still waving the watch back and forth like a hypnosis device that Sam was pointedly not looking at. 

"You can never accept that you've accomplished anything because you're always worried about the _next_ thing, and you won't take and god-damn _compliment!_ " Josh stuck his other hand in the pool and flicked his wrist, splashing Sam in the face. 

_"Hey!"_ Sam brought both his hands together and in an arc sent a veritable wave of water at him. Josh barely had time to scramble to the side. So much for not getting pool water all over his clothes this time.

"You see I realize my mistake about that just then-"

"Uhuh?" Sam crossed his arms over the grate again, tilting his head in mock-innocence. 

"You've been swimming since you could walk and you are, as of now, in the water, you've got a complete home-field advantage." 

"Spot-on." 

Josh spared the still-empty pool and cursory glance before leaning down and meeting Sam in a quick kiss. Before dating Sam, chlorine gave Josh these awful headaches. He would start and end each of Sam's meets with Tylenol, and always end up taking a break to go outside and breathe in the clean air. 

Now, curling his fingers into Sam's hair and easily breathing in as much of the pool as he did Sam, he wondered if this arbitrary element would always and forever be tied to his best friend. 

In any case, Josh didn't get such bad headaches anymore.

"One more time?" Sam broke away and whispered just as Josh brought his other hand to the side of Sam's neck. 

Josh barked out a laugh that expanded and reverberated through the pool, and Sam followed him. For a few seconds, Josh marveled at the feeling of noise being something you could feel. 

"There's no changing you is there?" 

"Nope," Sam said with a pop, already pushing back his hair.

"One more time, and then Sam, I swear to God, I'm leaving with or without you."

"That's a lie."

Josh grabbed Sam's goggles and held them out of reach like they were twelve years old and arguing in a playground. Sam held a hand out for his goggles, bright yellow swim cap abandoned. 

"Come on," Josh whined, holding his goggles farther up and Sam made a swing for them. He was well aware he was being childish, but it was a Friday night and they had no homework, and approximately six hours before Sam passed out at the advanced hour of ten-thirty. 

"Sectionals! Josh, _Josh!"_ Sam complained, putting on his serious face, the one with the frowning eyebrows and the big blue eyes. Josh had an iron will. That would not work. 

Okay, so it was only working a little bit.

"I'm _bored_ , Sam, really, I love you to death but it's _Friday -"_

"I can beat fifty-five," Sam said, tilting his chin up and putting on his I'm-flirting-to-get-what-I-want face, the one with the licking his lips and the big blue eyes. Josh was stupid, but he wasn't a liar; this one was definitely working. 

"I'm sure you can."

"I can't top fifty-five if I-" 

"Switching the subject, just briefly, to something you _can_ top-" 

_"Josh!"_

With that, Sam grabbed Josh's wrist just as Josh yanked the watch up, and Josh fell face-first into the pool. He had just enough time to close his eyes, but not enough to take a deep enough breath. Water surged up his nose and the only thought in Josh's head as he spun around blind and turned to the surface was _, It'd be poetic justice if they found Sam's body in the pool._

Josh broke through the surface, sloppily treading and spitting water out of his mouth. His nose burned and, he realized as he looked down in dismay, he'd dropped Sam's watch. It sat quietly at the bottom of the pool, shiny and laughing at him. 

"Some might call this karma." Sam finally broke the silence. Josh spared a single glare at him before they started laughing again, so hard Josh's stomach hurt and he couldn't keep afloat very well. 

"I…dropped your…watch," Josh struggled out, paddling to the side of the pool and grabbing the ladder.

"Oh so now you _want_ me to get the watch?" Sam pulled himself out of the water and sat on the edge of the pool, legs dangling in the water and fiddling with his goggles.

"No, I'll get it, and die trying." 

"Isn't it supposed to be ' _or_ die trying'?" 

Josh shook his head, shaking drops of water from his hair like a dog. Thank God he didn't have anything in his shorts pockets, and he wasn't terribly attached to this t-shirt. They'd have to walk back to Josh's dorm while he was soaking wet. Maybe he'd make Sam carry his bags for him. The untold upsides of having an obsessed swimmer boyfriend: he'd always cary Josh's stuff around, fairly used to lugging around multiple backpacks like a pack donkey and always eager to help. Although, half of that was just Sam, the first to offer himself up and the last one to ask for favors in return. 

"Here," Sam tossed his goggles to Josh and they landed with a blue and yellow splash an arm's length away. Josh grabbed them and slid them over his head. 

"You look like a bug."

"Shut up." Josh took a deep breath and dove under. When he passed the halfway point the water pressed oh his head and in his ears, and his lungs started screaming for air. How did Sam do this? And then swim a lap entirely under the water? And for _fun_? 

Josh grabbed the watch and looked up at Sam, a kaleidoscope mess now treading water on the surface. The watch's time was still blinking. 

He pushed off the bottom of the pool, flip-flops slowing him down, and reached through the surface with his hand like he was opening a door. 

"You got it!" 

"No need to… sound so surprised." Josh tossed the watch to Sam, who in turn tossed it onto the pool grate. 

"Why-"

"Take a deep breath."

"Again?" 

Sam reached forward, pried his goggles from Josh's forehead, and kissed him. They stopped treading and Josh did as he was told, willing the air in his lungs to magically have a longer shelf-life as they sunk a few feet under the surface. 

Josh had never kissed anyone underwater before, and he wasn't sure what he was expecting, but he didn't anticipate how complicated it would be. Of course, of _course_ , Sam Perfectionist Seaborn was good at this; he was a great swimmer and in Josh's expert opinion a great kisser, so of course this would be no sweat for him. 

They pushed away from each other under the water and after a second Josh opened his eyes, chlorine stinging and blurring his vision into the general outline of Sam. Sam had already opened his eyes, obviously numb to the sting of the chlorine from a childhood in saltwater. Maybe, Josh thought as Sam swam to him again and placed both hands on Josh's waist, that was why he needed such thick glasses. Vision ruined by constantly drowning his eyes in the pool or the beach.

Josh tilted forward and kissed Sam again, running a hand blind over his warm shoulders and resting with his palm just over his collarbone. Gradually Josh realized that, while Sam could probably kiss him for upwards of a minute without really breaking a sweat, the need for oxygen was overcoming his ability to enjoy this. 

He shifted a bit and Sam seemed to get the hint, dropping his hands from Josh's waist as they bobbed to the surface. 

Breathing again felt like an actual head rush as Josh held onto the ladder and tip-toed on its bottom step for balance. His chest burned and his shoulders heaved as Sam stuck to treading water a few feet away, cool as a cucumber with his goggle-eyes and wet hair and the whole not-wearing-a-shirt-right-now deal that Josh, in the back of his mind, should have taken fuller advantage of a few seconds ago. 

"Was that your plan from the beginning?" 

"Oh yeah," Sam nodded and swam next to Josh, resting his elbows on the edge of the pool and grinning, "Didn't mean for it to happen like that, but you know, happy accidents."

"You're an evil mastermind, who I should not try to play games with again."

"Yes." Sam nodded and ran a hand through his chlorine-stiff hair. Josh reached towards Sam and pushed his hair against the grain, making it stick up on all ends. 

"You have a startling talent for combining neurosis and perfectionism to get things done." 

"Also correct." 

"Are you just gonna keep on agreeing with me?" 

Sam rubbed his eyes and shrugged, smiling like he was made of mischief in a way that was quite unlike the serious and stressed Sam of late. 

"Maybe."

"You should kiss me again." 

"Sounds about right." 

Josh held onto the ladder with one hand, possessing newfound gratitude for the function of his lungs as Sam wrapped their legs around each other like a conjoined octopus. Josh decided that he was a simple man, with the capability to take pleasure from the simple things life had to offer. 

Number one, Sam's pruned fingers running on the sides of his cheeks as he smiled. 

Number two, Sam's hair that he was too stubborn to get cut and was at a perfect length for Josh to curl his hands into, even soaking wet. 

And number three, Sam kissing him and kissing him and kissing him like there was no possibility of loss or let-down, only the bright and insane joy of a Friday afternoon tasting like chlorine and mint gum. 


End file.
